Eden
by Hinata FTW
Summary: A new threat is looming over Konoha. How will the Konoha 12 fair when they take up the swords of Eden to defend their village from the beast? Will love finally blossom between Naruto and Hinata when they truly get to know each other? NaruHina! :D
1. Chapter 1: Prelude! What makes her tick

Eden

A NaruHina Fanfic

Chapter 1

Prelude!

What Makes Her Tick

:::

Hinata focused her chakra up into her eyes. She felt it swell within the cells, attracting more light to broaden and focus her vision. When the veins popped out on the sides of her head, she initiated her kekkei genkai with a soft "Byakugan!"

Her opponent mimicked her incantation from across the courtyard, the inverted pupil in his eyes mirroring the streaks of black in her own lavender irises. Hinata narrowed her vision to pierce the skin of her opponent, picking out the tiny specks of his chakra points, their glow like the stars to her sharp eyes.

"Begin" Hiashi Hyuuga said blandly and watched as his eldest daughter rushed past him. He was suitably disinterested in this fight. He already knew what its outcome would be.

Stabbing out with her palm, Hinata attempted to close a cluster of points in her opponents shoulder. He dodged easily, retaliating with his own two fingered strike towards Hinata's outstretched arm. Leaning away just enough for the chakra disturbance to merely flutter her sleeve, Hinata was minimizing her shift of body weight in order to pinpoint her next hit, her fingers already moving. He batted her strike away, his forearm contacting the inside of her own, and then went to send a solid palm slap to her stomach.

Hinata leant back from her knees, using her arm to shove the offending attack up into the blank space where her shoulder had been. Twisting on her toes, she put her free hand on the ground for balance and sent a back hook kick to sweep his legs. He caught her foot in his hand, but found himself off guard before he could pulse chakra into it. The determined kunoichi had already pushed up off the ground with both hands to launch her other foot into his face. He was forced to abandon his planned decimation and dodge her second kick, though the armored heel of her ninja sandal still grazed his ear as it continued its arc. Hinata righted herself as they both gained a split second reprieve in the action. She panted as she wearily eyed the man she had never beaten, her cousin and training partner, the jonin Neji Hyuuga.

:::

This time, he attacked. His palm drove towards her shoulder, but she nimbly stepped out of the way. She deliberately found herself on the side that had just struck, effectively dodging his other hand that had been poised for a follow up shot. He kicked out to the side towards her, but she braced her arm at ninety degrees, the solid thunk of shin hitting forearm joining the sound of their panting, these muted noises the only testament to the grueling struggle in the Hyuugas private training ground.

She gasped when she saw him already turning, his fingers coming towards her shoulder too fast to dodge. Desperately, she threw chakra out of the points in his target area, so that when he hit, their two chakras collided, effectively nullifying the effects of Neji's gentle fist strike.

He stepped back with a mild look of approval in his eyes. "Hinata, you've grown. I was unaware you could spike your chakra anywhere but your palms."

Hinata gave a twitch of a smile in gratitude for his praise. "Thank you cousin, but the technique is still very rough, I was lucky with that shot" she said hesitantly, careful not to let the light conversation distract her.

Her face took on a determined set again when he tensed to attack. She swept her arm down to brush aside his palm strike to her abdomen, failing to recognize the feint attack until he used his other hand to take advantage and slap her down swept arm. Her fingers twitched as the chakra pulsed into her, pinching the nerves in her forearm and severely limiting the easy flow of chakra to that hand.

She grimaced; she had just been placed at a huge disadvantage. Breathing heavily, she attacked him viciously, not about to let him capitalize on his advantage. She used her injured arm to bat aside his own, not minding his persistent fingers that jabbed into it, closing off the remainder of the flow. She would not need it for her plan of action.

Neji, not realizing she was sacrificing that arm to get more hits on him, was caught off guard when her other hand swept over the crook in her arm and pulsed chakra into his shoulder. He grunted but pushed through the pain, taking inspiration from her unorthodox gamble and grabbing her 'sacrificed' arm to yank her in closer to him.

She gasped in surprise at such an unexpected counter, but was not fast enough to avoid his attack. He intercepted her forward momentum with his palm between them, pulsing a huge spike of chakra into her stomach.

Hinata coughed and fell to her knees as her stomach rattled around, struggling to gain control over the wave of nausea that momentarily incapacitated her. Neji stepped back, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Hinata, you have really impr-" he choked on his words in surprise as she rose up from the dirt, clutching her stomach. She looked at him with those fierce eyes he was now so used to, and he felt a grin come over him. "I wouldn't expect any less" he said with a proud smirk, and the fight resumed with no less gusto.

:::

Finally, when Hinata really was feeling at her limit, Hiashi called an end to the match. Despite her will, her legs buckled and she dropped to her knees, her breathing ragged and uncontrolled. Neji's breathing matched hers, but he did not fall. On her hands and knees, Hinata glared at the dirt not inches from her face, her messy; sweat dampened hair trailing around her.

She did not need to see to know her father's reaction, nor did she need to hear his disappointed footsteps stomping away. Tears wet the dirt in the dark cave her hair made around her. She clenched her hands into the hard packed ground, her nails digging tiny trenches through the battleground she had just fought across.

'_I'm still too weak!_' she cursed at herself. '_I'm such a fool! How did I ever think I could ever take Pain if I still can't even beat Neji? I'm so pathetic; I couldn't even protect the one I love most!_'

She would never forget that day, the biggest failure in her whole life full of them. She had failed her village, her country, even the world by allowing Naruto to almost be captured. But most of all, she had failed her nindo, and she had failed Naruto. She would never forgive herself for that.

But she remembered said nindo, which was inspired by that love for Naruto. She knew what he would do, and she would always strive to be like him. Now was no different. Instead of giving up and putting it behind her like so many others would, she made a promise to herself.

'I _won't give up. I won't let Naruto down again! I will get stronger!_'

If Neji had been surprised before when she got up, the look in her eyes now as she rose from the dirt, the Byakugan adding to that fiery determination on her tear streaked face, her body retaking the Hyuuga form, haunted him for weeks after this fight.

He finally recovered somewhat from his shock and grinned ruefully. He had been looking forward to a nice relaxing bath after their training match. Training with Hinata always left him a few bruises he needed to soak away.

Well, it looked like that would have to wait. And, it looked like he would need all night in the bath tonight.

:::

Well, that's my new story. Its just a short prelude to get a feel for things, I'm trying to make it really down to earth and true to the characters and events in the series. This is beginning sometime in the History of the Leaf arc, that really gay filler arc after the Pain arc. I'll get the proper chapter out soon, just wanted to chuck this out there as an appetizer. Yea I know, Neji in a bath? WEIRD! But oh well. Couldn't really think of anything else... Yes, my stories NaruHina of course! (I didn't get to put the 'of course' bit in my summary so I just had to put it in here, I mean, what else would it be!)


	2. Chapter 2: Crisis!

Eden

A NaruHina Fanfic

Chapter 2

Crisis!

:::

So yea, this is the 'chronological' start to my story. This story will focus mainly on Hinata and Naruto, but the Konoha 12 are also involved, Sai replacing Sasuke for now, until I decide whether I want to involve him yet. This is post-Pain, which I think I said last time. In this one, Tsunade didn't die (I was honestly shocked when that happened, it was kind of fail… sorry if that sounds ratchet), umm, and the whole retrieve Sasuke/War thing hasn't happened. Nothing really else has happened since Pain, and the village is half repaired. If you read on its all explained in the story, but just briefly summarizing now. Oh, and Naruto's left to find that 'answer' thingy, or so he says… That's covered below to. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Whoops, forgot this last time! Haha. Well actually, no, in fact I don't own Naruto so don't sue me you bastards who actually go around reading these things trying to sue someone. (I don't know if anyone even does that, I mean who would if you think about it, why bother?) Anyway, I don't feelt like doing a disclaimer every chapter so I'll probably just chuck them in sporadically, just because I didn't put one on a chapter don't assume that I actually own Naruto ok! That would be awesome but it is sasdly impossible .

Anyway, Enjoy! :D

:::

Hinata knelt on the floor in her room, humming a small tune to herself as she removed the wooden press from around the long sheet of paper, revealing a flower shaped into the final letter on the sheet. She had used a variety of prettily colored flowers pressed into the waxy paper to subtly spell out her a word of great importance to her, even if she didn't have much of it. Self-confidence. She loved mixing favorites like this.

She stood up and looked down with pride on the finished work, knowing it was for her eyes only. She never let anyone see her flower pressing; ninja's don't press flowers. Full stop. But Hinata needed balance in her life, and on occasion she felt the need to do such peaceful activities to contrast the vicious training regime she had adopted over the last few months, and to put her mind at ease, away from the thoughts of having to hurt so many people that her job entailed.

She glanced out the shutters on her window at the sound of footsteps. She saw her team walking by on the other side of the road, heading toward the front door of the estate. And with Shino, Akamaru and Kiba, walked a woman she had seen far too little of late.

The elderly branch member dusting an ancient relic on a stand in the hallway looked up in surprise when her master's eldest daughter sprinted past her, almost knocking the artifact from its perch in her wake. "S,Sorry!" Hinata called back to the old lady, but didn't slow her pace.

:::

"Kurenai-sensei!" she yelled when she saw the red eyed woman standing at the door. She rushed into her arms, her old sensei embracing her in a motherly hug. "Wh,what are you doing here?" Hinata asked, teary eyed when they broke.

She had barely seen Kurenai in the months since Pain's assault; she had been too busy caring for her recently born child to teach her team. Hinata had been helplessly brought to tears when Kurenai had named her baby girl Hina, after Hinata's late mother. Kurenai had been like a mother to Hinata over the years she had trained her, so for her to name her daughter after Hinata's real mother… It solidified their bond more than her real family could ever hope to gain. Though her father had found new respect for his eldest when he heard of her actions against Pain, he still thought she was too weak.

Kurenai smiled at the teary eyed girl. "There's an emergency mission that has come up, we're going to need everyone there for the briefing" she explained, her own eyes tearing slightly from the reunion.

Hinata's mouth made a small 'o' in understanding. "Umm, do I have time to pack my gear?" she asked uncertainly.

Kurenai shook her head. "Don't worry, it's an emergency, but it's not urgent, there's no rush, and we don't even know if you'll be going on this mission yet."

Hinata nodded, only then remembered her manners after her initial shock of seeing Kurenai. "H,hi Shino-kun, Kiba-kun, Akamaru-kun" she said meekly, embarrassed for ignoring them. "S,sorry." She looked at the ground.

"There is nothing to be sorry about" Shino said simply, while Kiba chuckled.

"Ah Hinata, you crack me up" he said, then put a brotherly hand on her shoulder and led her down the road. Hinata smiled. Her teammates were better family than hers could ever be.

:::

Team 8 arrived in the Hokage office in due time, but when they got there; they found there was not a lot of room. Squeezing through the crowd of familiar ninja, they announced their presence to the Hokage before mingling with the rest of the Konoha twelve, complete with senseis. Hinata saw Sakura in the midst of familiar faces, and waved to get her attention.

"H,hi Sakura-san" she greeted probably her best 'girlfriend'.

"Hey Hinata, do you know why we're all here?" Sakura asked.

Hinata blinked. "O, um, no, th,that's exactly what I was going to ask you."

Sakura smiled. "Well, I guess we're about to find out" she said as the room turned as one to the Hokage, who had just stood up behind her desk. The councilors Koharu, Homura, and Danzo flanked her. The room fell silent under the glare of the last of the legendary Sanin.

"Unfortunately, our time has come" Tsunade said, her strong tones thundering over the small room without even raising her voice. "And at the worst of times, when our village is at its weakest. We are still rebuilding from the last assault only three months ago, and yet it seems fate has decided to place our village in the firing line again. You are probably not aware, but there is another power in the elemental countries that is stronger than the Bijuu."

A collective gasp came from the crowd, many whisperings of "stronger than the Bijuu?" reverberating around.

"But, sensei, how can that be?" Sakura spoke up. "How can we not have heard of it if it's stronger than the Bijuu?"

Tsunade elaborated. "There is not a lot known about this power, and what we do know cannot be separated from truth and rumor, but it is said this power has certain rules to it that make it less of a threat than the bijuu that wander freely throughout our country. This 'beast' lives in another dimension, if it could be called that. It is an entity centuries old, rumored to exist since the creation of this land. And it's one purpose is to test the strength of the Hidden Villages."

She paused dramatically to let it sink in, but unfortunately, most of the Konoha twelve are not the most perceptive, and the ones that are aren't people to voice their opinions out loud, so the only reply she got was a collective "Huh?"

She sighed. "This beast comes every year to a different village, and tests its strength. If we are not up to its standards, it destroys the village. As simple as that."

"What!" came across the whole room.

Tsunade looked down at her hands, obviously trying to find the words to voice something uncomfortable. "We received reports this morning that the Hidden Stone Village was tested several weeks ago. The only reason we have not learned of the result yet is because we had no reason to visit the village with our own village's current state. However, we sent a messenger last week requesting several tonnes of granite to rebuild center structural buildings throughout the village that do not rely on wood. However, the messenger returned with grave news. It seems that the Hidden Stone village failed its test. It is no more."

Silence rung in the room. "What do you mean no more!" Ino shouted out.

"Every man, woman, and child in that village is dead, buried beneath the rubble of one of the most powerful Hidden Villages in history" Tsunade said bluntly, ruthlessly revealing the gravity of their situation. Now not even the loudmouths of the group could find words to fill said mouths.

Tsunade took a big breath. "While our village has been destroyed, we cannot allow that to happen to our people. There are special conditions we must meet for our village to pass the test. Before I say these conditions, I'm going to relieve you a little bit. The beast will not come to our village for at least a year, and then after that year, only if our village starts to decline or does something against its distorted sense of right and wrong."

A collective sigh of relief came from the group of chunin and jonin. "The first condition is that only 12 ninja can take part in the test" she stated.

Surprisingly, no sudden objections came from the crowd. They all realized the gravity of the situation, and also that they were the 'Konoha 12.' Even with one not there. "The test is a fight. A fight with the beast. And the second condition is that when they fight the beast, they must use the swords from its realm."

Oh, if this weren't such an important life and death situation the looks on their faces would have kept her amused for weeks. "Swords!" Tenten said, stars of awe in her eyes. The others sweat dropped, though all with the same uniform confused look.

"Yes, swords. Don't worry, we have a special teacher in the land of Fire to teach the chosen twelve the ways of the blade, and to prepare them for these blades, and this fight. However." She paused. "This is just a myth, it has never been actually proven, but while all twelve swords can hurt the beast, and drive it back from the village, one of them can actually kill it. It is called the Machete. I'm telling you this because whoever of you is 'chosen' by the blade, chosen to wield the Machete, has the chance to end this century long cycle of destruction. While I don't think the beast is sentiently evil, it disrupts the power flows in our world. If you can kill it, think of how many hundreds of thousands of lives you can save."

She took yet _another_ a deep breath. "I guess you have already realized this, but you 12 are the most promising young ninja in our village. In a year's time, under the special training you will receive from the master, I believe you will all be stronger than the most powerful ninja in our village."

The twelve gaped in awe. Most powerful in the village? That was… unbelievable.

Amazingly, it was Hinata that broke the silence. "U,Um, H,Hokage-sama" Hinata's tiny, quite voice seemed to be smothered by the stifling silence in the room, but everyone heard it. "Th,there are only eleven of us here. N,Naruto-kun is still gone, w,w,what are you going to do with him?"

She breathed out deeply and attempted to sink back into the crowd, but Kiba and Shino's solid shoulders behind her wouldn't let her. They knew she wanted to hear the answer to this question.

"That is undecided yet Hinata, he has been gone since the week after Pain's invasion and we have no idea where he is. He would be a valuable asset to this mission, but if we cannot locate him fast enough, we will have to find someone else" Tsuande answered.

Hinata wilted. "O,Ok" she said dejectedly, finally squeezing behind Kiba and Shino.

Tsunade finally wrapped up her brief. "Now, because this mission is key to the survival of our entire village, and because it is so long term, I am giving you the choice of taking this mission. No-one will think any less of you if you do not accept it, and there are always others I can find, so, think about it for a bit. You have the remainder of the day and night, but tomorrow morning, if you choose so, report back here ready for a long mission. You will be going on a field trip tomorrow if you accept."

Sighing, she relaxed and leant back, finally done with the lengthy talk. She noticed the stony silence of her councilors, looking over the assembled young ninja like they ruled the world.

She really hated councilors. "What were you even here for?" she said, peering at them.

The three flinched as one and looked taken aback for a second, amusing her to no end. She chuckled to herself and got up from her desk, filing out the door behind the Konoha 12 and their sensei's, in search of a good drink.

:::

Kurenai caught Hinata on the way out of the building, gently pulling her aside. She put a finger over the young girl's lips before she could speak.

"I know you've probably already decided, I think along with everyone else, to go on this mission, and I know I'm not supposed to be influencing you on this, but I think this mission will extremely benefit your self-confidence issues" she said gently. Hinata blushed.

Kurenai interrupted her again before she could say anything. "Don't deny it" she chuckled. "It's not your fault about that, but I do think it's in your hands to change yourself. For the better. This mission will be intense, dangerous, and taxing, but I believe you will come out better off. I have complete faith in you that you will be able to defend our village, and I think that maybe, once all this is over, maybe even _before_ it's over, you'll be able to talk more freely to Naruto about your feelings for him."

Instead of the blush she expected, Hinata's shoulders slumped as her face visibly crumpled into familiar dejected lines.

"H,he never even said anything before he left again, and I was too embarrassed and nervous to even say bye to him" Hinata said, her voice choked with tears.

Kurenai bent over and wiped the still forming moisture out of Hinata's eyes. "Aw, honey, I'm sure it's not what you think. He probably had a lot on his mind after his talk with Pain; he must have been too busy to think about your confession."

Hinata sniffled and wiped a sleeve over her face. "Yea, y,you're probably right, I'm not important enough to him to think of me" Hinata said dejectedly.

Kurenai flinched at her backfired reassurance. "Hinata, I know Naruto wouldn't do that to you. I'm sure what you said to him meant so much to him he didn't know what to think about it. He was probably so confused that when he left he just felt he needed more time to think, so decided he'd address you when he got back."

Hinata sighed. "But when will he get back" she said as much to herself as her sensei. Kurenai smiled, happy that her apprentice, as much a daughter to her as her own few month old one, was no longer thinking that Naruto didn't like her, just that he was confused.

"You go home and think about the mission, I've got to get back to Hina" Kurenai said with a teary smile and hugged Hinata, then left for her home and her baby.

Hinata smiled at the mention of her mother's reincarnate, and then turned to see her two teammates waiting for her. She blushed, thinking of the conversation she had just been having, but Kiba didn't tease her. He knew when and when not to make fun. Right now he could see she needed reassuring.

"Don't worry Hinata, me and Shino are going too, we'll be with you all the way!" he said cheerfully, putting a manly arm around his bigger teammates shoulder.

"We are?" the big insect user said. Kiba nodded vigorously. Shino sighed inwardly, but also nodded his head briefly to Hinata.

She smiled brightly. "Thanks guys, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then" she said warmly.

"Yea, that's the way Hinata!" Kiba yelled and fist pumped the air, walking off happily with loyal Akamaru by his side. Shino nodded again to Hinata and went on his own way, leaving Hinata to sigh in worry and continue on her path to the compound. If she chose this mission, the road ahead would be the hardest she had ever tread, but it would also lead to her greatest achievements. If she took this opportunity, she knew she could find the strength to make her dreams come true, instead of just hoping and wishing all the time. She _would_ change herself.

:::

Hinata lay in bed in her modest room within the Hyuuga compound, staring out the window at the majesty of the stars outside. The moonlight shone down on her face, giving it a soft glow and highlighting her hair spread out over the pillow around her. She was, of course, thinking of the mission.

'_It's very dangerous'_ she thought. '_But since when have you ever been afraid to dive headfirst into danger?_' she asked herself ruefully. '_Especially if Naruto's involved, and this does involve him, if indirectly. When I come out of this, I might be able to actually hold a conversation with him. I mean, I'll always be shy and quite, it's what defines me, but maybe, after this, I'll be able to push through that enough to make him see me as a woman, not just one of his precious people, not just one of his friends. I might be able to make him see me for who I really am._'

She sniffed, feebly fighting back the tears that welled up in her eyes. _'Instead of just being the girl that couldn't even bring herself to go say bye to him when he left again, I could be that strong girl he admires so much_.' The tears flowed freely now. '_I'm so pathetic, I said I loved him, and then I couldn't even speak to him! He probably thought I was joking or something, because what kind of girl would say that to him, then run away?_'

She remembered even as a child, when Naruto had rescued her from those bullies, she had still continued to hide and watch him from afar. She had never even found the courage to thank him for saving her. She was still that innocent, but completely pathetic little girl.

She came back to reality and looked at the stars in the night sky, so bright, and the moon hanging there, solid, unmoving, and strong. The moon that so many associated her with, even though she was named after the sun.

'_But I will not be that girl anymore. If I go on this mission, I will be strong. In every way! I will be myself, and I will break anyone that tries to get in my way!_'

Her heart swelled with that resolved promise, and she finally felt peace for the first time since the briefing. That way, her eyelids were finally able to flutter closed and let her drift off into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

:::

Hinata woke up with the first rays of the sun coming through her window, warming her face so that when she first opened her eyes she had to squint through the early morning haze. Dust particles in the air shone like miniature version of the stars last night as they were highlighted in the sun. Birds chirped outside, and Hinata breathed in the crisp morning air filtering through the opening in her window.

Today was the start of a new era for her, the beginning of her journey to change.

She would change.

Hinata leapt out of bed with renewed vigor, and after rushing her morning necessary actions, she attacked her dressers, shoving items into her mission bag. There was a knock on the door, and she smiled. She knew exactly who that was.

"Neji!" she exclaimed when she opened the door, looking up at her taller cousin.

He looked surprised to see her so eagerly greeting him, but smiled warmly in turn. "I see you've already made up your mind" he said. She nodded vigorously. "Well, I guess I don't need to be here to convince you to come then" he said with a smirk, turning to leave. "I'm proud of you Hinata" he said over his shoulder before disappearing around a corner.

Hinata smiled, but it failed to reach her eyes. '_If only the rest of my family felt that way'_ she thought sadly, but quickly banished that lifelong melancholy from her family's relationship. She was changing; she would not let her family affect her any more. She was her own person now, so would not care about the bullshit her family spun about her anymore.

:::

At breakfast, which Neji was attending, as he did most week mornings, he broke the mission to Hiashi, explaining the general details of the mission, and that both him and Hinata were going. "So two more Hyuuga are leaving home" the clan head said, his voice not cold, but no degree of warmth either. He looked at his youngest child, who was still calmly eating her breakfast. "So it'll just be me and you Hanabi?" he said.

Hanabi paused with her chop-stickful of porridge halfway to her mouth. "Yes" she replied simply, then made the sticks continue their journey.

Hiashi sighed. '_What has become of my two daughters?_' he thought in exasperation. He looked back to his eldest and his basically adopted prodigy, both looking ready to leave any minute. "Very well, how long will this first part of the mission take you away for?" he asked Neji.

"We weren't told the details, but it could be awhile" he replied.

Hiashi nodded. "Very well then, good luck." He looked to Hinata. "Both of you" he said firmly, inwardly warming at the look of surprise and joy coming over his daughter. He had found a lot of new respect in her in the months after Pain's assault, so he wasn't as bad to her as he had been in the past. But, she still could use a lot of improving, so he was very strict and harsh to her at times, to keep her on her toes.

She nodded meekly in appreciation of his small acknowledgement. He decided to say something more since she would be gone so long. "Hinata, I believe you have passed the point of being a burden to your team. Please don't jeopardize my faith in you for this mission. I expect you to come back stronger. I have seen you improving over these last few months. If you do exceptionally well in this mission, well…" He paused for a second. Should he? Yes, it couldn't hurt. He eyed his youngest as he said this. "Your position as heir could become solidified" he said with a slight smile.

Hanabi didn't as much as flinch. The chopsticks slowed down for a fraction of a second at his words, but then resumed to their normal speed. Hiashi inwardly sighed. Again. Even as his other daughters face basically jumped for joy, he couldn't help but think that without the two teens, the next however many weeks they were gone could be very boring.

Then his thoughts were scattered by Hinata's arms wrapping around him and her squealing "Thank you Father!" She broke off red faced and apologized profusely, before the two got up from the kneeling cushions. Neji leant over the mat their food was served on and shook Hiashi's hand, something only Neji would do, a branch member shaking hands with the head of the Hyuuga. Then with a few last parting goodbyes, and Hinata kissing her sisters forehead in farewell, the two young ninja hoisted their packs and left for the dangerous and exciting, and extremely important, new mission.

When Hiashi turned back to his meal, he smirked as he caught Hanabi's expression. She had the slightest slight of a blush on her cheeks, her usually bland face tinged with a touch of sadness. Only her sister could affect her like that.

:::

The Konoha 12's, minus one, journey was amazingly uneventful for the first half of their course. They were to travel to the destroyed Stone Village to pick up the swords they were supposed to be wielding against the beast. Just when Shikamaru thought that apparently no other ninja would attack them on their journey, he saw a figure walking towards them in the distance, casually strolling down the road.

It seemed to have a tan colored shirt on and with a white dress, so though he couldn't make out any distinguishing features, he assumed it was a girl. Now one lone woman on the road posed basically no threat to the eleven of them, but he wouldn't take any chances. The remainder of the Akatsuki were still lurking somewhere, and it would be a smart move from them not to flaunt round their signature cloud cloaks that drew bounty hunters and ninja from villages to them like flies to cat vomit. The Akatsuki being the cat vomit.

"Neji, Hinata" he said, explaining to them without needing to say anymore. They were smart, they knew what to do. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if their sharp eyes had already spotted the approacher.

"Byakugan" came from behind him, one close and firm, the other farther back in the group, making the already soft voice barely audible. That voice suddenly became a huge gasp when Hinata's kekkei genkai activated, probably the loudest sound she had made that day.

Shikamaru turned to look at her, seeing Neji also had a reaction, though obviously smaller. Then, Hinata simply collapsed, her face turning bright red and falling with a loud poof to the dirt of the road. "Huh!" Kiba yelled. "The only person that could do that is…" he said slowly to himself.

Shikamaru sighed. So it was that kind of trouble. He turned to Neji, the unasked question for confirmation in his eyes. Neji simply nodded, deactivating his blood limit. Shikamaru couldn't keep the smirk off his face as the figure approached even more slowly, having noticed the larger than normal group on the road ahead of it.

"Naruto" Hinata murmured from the ground, her face still pink, her eyes still closed in unconsciousness, and the brightest smile seen in a long time adorning her face.

:::

Naruto looked at himself sheepishly when he saw all his friends on the road ahead of him, taking in the towel wrapped around his waist and bare upper torso, his provisions and clothes slung over his shoulder in a sack. Maybe he should have got dressed before walking back from the hot springs to his camp sight only a few miles down the road. Awkward situations like this just loved to catch up on him.

He noticed the group was no longer moving, so it was up to him to go down to them. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly when he got to them. "Uh, hey guys, what are you all doing out here?" he asked awkwardly, seeing most of them were gathered in a circle staring at the ground. He thought they'd be ecstatic to see him after so many weeks, but they seemed to have more attention for the ground.

Finally Shikamaru turned around and came up to him, gave him a one over, smirked, and clasped his hand. "Good to have you back" he said smugly, then lead Naruto into the group. Naruto greeted numerous friends until he noticed what had been so interesting about the ground, or, well, the person on the ground.

"Hey what happened to Hinata!" he shouted out in shock, his voice merely adding to Kiba's prodding her with his foot and the shouts of "Do you wanna see him or roll around in the dirt" and "C'mon Hinata, it's not sexy when there's so many other people around!"

This last remark of Ino's finished the girl off, and she stopped murmuring as the blood finally overwhelmed her brain and she fell fully into unconsciousness. That led to the party carrying her to Naruto's campsite not far away and setting up there for the night, as the shadows were already lengthening.

:::

"So what are you guys all doing out here?" Naruto queried when they were all sitting around the campfire, minus one still pink faced, unconscious heir.

"Oh, we're just on some super important mission that's critical for the survival of the entire Leaf Village" Kiba bragged.

Shikamaru quickly silenced him with his boring reasoning. "You can join if you want, it was Tsunade's plan if you got back in time, but you'll have to ditch whatever it is you've been doing for the last few months. As Kiba said, the whole village could be destroyed if we fail; so this isn't a muck around mission."

Naruto nodded seriously for once. "So what is it exactly?"

"For now, we're just visiting the Stone Village, but the mission length is a whole year. It also so important it hasn't been given a rank, but I suppose if they had to rank it for you, it would surpass S."

Naruto was off his feet the moment he heard that letter. "A yearlong S-Rank mission! Why the hell are you even asking me, I'm in!" he shouted to the sky, then bounded of through the trees in typical Naruto hyperactism, whooping to the sky.

:::

"Wh…what? Ohhh, I fainted again didn't I?" Hinata murmured as she slowly came too. Her surroundings and memory were still fuzzy, but this feeling was so familiar to her she now could recognize it before she was even fully aware again.

"Umph" she muttered as she hauled herself up from her sitting position against a tree, finding herself in a small clearing by a stream. She staggered a bit and fell to her knees in wooziness, so she opted for crawling to the stream. When she got there, she dunked her face straight into the water, the shocking cold ripping away the drowsiness and confusion.

However, as soon as her head was out, she felt a familiar warmth grow in her cheeks. '_Naruto's back_' she thought.

And lucky her, said Naruto had just walked into the clearing, finally cooled off some steam with his excitement and having circled back towards camp. "Hey Hinata!" he shouted joyfully, and the girl looked up to see him walking towards her, thankful that he had proper clothes on this time.

"H,Hi Naruto-kun" she said in greeting, standing up and giving a small bow. Coming back up she wiped the water off her face with a sleeve. "H,How have you been?" she asked politely, having not seen the boy in months.

"Oh, pretty good" he said, hand scratching the back of his head. Now that a conversation was starting, he was getting pretty awkward. He now knew what that light dusting of pink on her cheeks was every time she saw him, and he still didn't know what to think about it, even after months of wracking his brain for it.

She had done the kindest thing for him, she had protected him and actually loved him, and it as still too overwhelming for him. Having been shunned all his life, he didn't know what to think of it now.

"Um, hey, Hinata?" he said, looking anywhere but her.

"Hmm?" she said, cocking her head slightly to the side. Any normal man would have been struck down by her cuteness in that simple gesture. "Ummm, I don't think I've said this yet, so I feel really bad for letting it take so long, but… thank you, for saving me back then."

Her blush deepened and she immediately looked down, hiding her eyes behind her fringe. "N,Naruto-kun, I d,didn't save you, I just got beat up. I was too weak, b,but, I'm glad you were strong enough to beat him by yourself."

Naruto suddenly grabbed her shoulders. "What are you talking about?" he said firmly.

She gasped and looked up into his eyes. "Wh,what?" she began.

"What do you mean you did nothing, that you were'nt strong enough? While everyone else cowered in the rubble, there excuse for it being to follow my orders not to interfere, when I was about to be taken and turned into a weapon of mass destruction, it was you that defied me and stepped in to save me. You freed me enough so that I could find the strength to fight again, even if it almost cost you your life. That is the most anyone has ever done for me, and for that Hinata, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

He enveloped her in a hug, somehow feeling right with his arms wrapped around the smaller girl, her head helplessly pressed up against his chest. He had trod carefully around the confession part, but that didn't change what she had done for him. And she deserved thanks, more thanks than he could ever give.

"Hinata, I also remember what you said to me then. I can't be certain what my feelings for you are right now, but I do know one thing for certain. You are certainly too good for me, you deserve someone so much better than me, so please, give up on me. You're so much better than me" he whispered to her ear.

He pulled back slowly to look into her eyes, only to see them glazed over, the face completely red, and her body slack. "Aww crap" he said in exasperation, and set the unconscious girl down against the tree again.

:::

"Mmph" Hinata mumbled when she woke up. She remembered that orange jacket coming towards her face, the scent of ramen filling her nostrils, his warm body pressed up against hers, before she had lost consciousness. As she was fading, she had heard him start to talk, but the actual words had never been heard.

Slowly, she got up and made her way back to camp, excusing herself from the others and setting up her tent, then immediately retiring. Even though she had spent the better part of the afternoon unconsciousness, she felt uncomfortably sleepy. Her last thoughts as she drifted off however, were still of the orange clad blonde, which had finally come back into her life after so many painstaking months away.

:::

Hinata rose with the first rays of her namesake peppering her tent through the leaves above. After finishing the previous day early, she had decided she could start early today and get a bit of training in before they resumed their journey. After two hours of heavy jyuuken practice, and many a scarred tree, she decided she would wash the sweat off her body in the stream.

Stripping off her clothes, she slipped into the icy water, shivering from its cold embrace. She quickly dunked her head and using her hands, scrubbed the dirt from her body. Climbing out, she quickly dressed still wet and made her way back to camp, refreshed and ready for a new day. If she only knew what she would see that day, maybe she wouldn't have been so eager to continue their journey.

:::

Hinata trudged along at the back of the group, gazing with her hands to heart at the leaders all chatting amiably to each other. She was alone beside Shino, his quiet company comfortable for her. But she still longed to be up there, walking beside Naruto, basking in his radiance. He was joking and laughing alongside Kiba, Sakura and Ino. How she envied Sakura for her closeness to the boy.

Shino noticed her undisguised admiration for the boy ahead of them, and sighed inwardly. "You know Hinata, it is a long trip, why don't you go and talk to him, he probably hasn't heard much about the actual mission yet."

Hinata turned pink hearing this. Was it that obvious? Shino hadn't been there for her confession, yet he saw through her so easily? '_Well, he is my teammate_' she mused.

With an unexpected surge of courage, she quickened her pace, and twiddling her fingers before herself caught up to the loud foursome. "Uh, N,Naruto-kun" she said quietly, sure he wouldn't hear over Kiba's raucous laughter. They were all like the sun; she just wished she could feel a tiny ray of it.

Naruto turned to her, glorious in all his majesty. "Huh? Oh hey Hinata, what's up?" he asked innocently.

She panicked; lost in those eyes, surprised he had even acknowledged her. "Um, um" she started, then remembered why she was here. "Umm, I was j,just wondering I,If you knew m,much about the m,mission, and, um, well, if you wanted to know m,more?" she stuttered horribly under his intense gaze. She was certain he wouldn't have understood that garbled nonsense.

"Sure Hinata, I actually have no idea what you guys are doing out here, no one's even explained it to me, apart from it being a super important mission."

Hinata smiled nervously and began explaining the mission. Now that she had something to go on she could talk with a little less blundering about. He walked alongside her grinning the entire time, Sakura, Ino and Kiba having pulled in front a bit. His smile infected her, so that when she had finished and thanked him for his time; her politeness mightily confusing him, she too wore a bright smile.

She sank back through their small group to where Shino was walking alone, and took up her stride next to the tall bug user. "Thank you, Shino-kun" she said in gratitude to her teammate and friend.

:::

The Konoha 12 arrived at their destination later that day with not many more momentous events, except maybe when Naruto had some of Hinata's cooking for lunch, the results of his praise sending the poor girl back into blundering blackness.

They all sighed in relief when they finally reached their destination, climbing over the final hill to view their destination. Only to be confronted with the scene of a nightmare. They knew the Stone village had been destroyed, but this was just horrific. The village was reduced to rubble, not a single building left standing. Rotting, burnt and maimed bodies littered the streets and collapsed buildings.

Hinata began shaking at the sight of it, imagining the lives of so many people, the hopes, the dreams, all gone. She felt a firm hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her cousin Neji looking down to her, and then nodded his head. She trembled, but resolved herself. She was a ninja; this was part of her job.

As one, the Hyuuga opened their Byakugan. Hinata searched through the village with her kekkei genkai, but couldn't find a single trace of a chakra signature. There was no-one alive in the city, and anything that could have held chakra, like a scroll or the powerful swords they were looking for, had either been destroyed or looted. Their target was not here.

Hinata searched the countryside in the vain hope that maybe there would be a group of survivors somewhere, but to no avail. Neji deactivated his byakugan in despair, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. But Hinata refused to give up. This could not be true! There couldn't be absolutely no-one left alive from this village! Complete genocide could not be possible!

Neji again put a hand on her shoulder, and she again began shaking, but this time, she nudged off the comfort. She desperately searched again and again with her byakugan, expanding it past the normal limits. A prick off blood began in her eye, but she didn't care. This could not be true.

Just as she was about to crumple from the pain, she picked up a tiny speck of bright blue on the horizon behind the village, fifteen kilometers from their current position. Her small gasp was like a gunshot to the silent group on the hill, stirring them out of their reverie. Before they could even ask, she blurted it out.

"There's someone in the forest on the other side of the village!" she shouted, immediately sprinting down the hill.

They had no choice but to follow her straight through the village. Hinata, even with her byakugan deactivated and her eyesight blurred from blood and the lingering effects of overuse of chakra, still noticed all the bodies around her. Mothers clutching young children charred and blackened, like they were burnt where they cowered. The mangled remains of fathers before them, their desperate attempts of protection failed. A burnt teddy bear sitting in the remains of a cot.

One thing was clear to every ninja present, no matter what happened, they would not let this beast do this again. They would not only protect their village, they would kill it, and protect the remaining people of the world.

That was now their duty, that was now their purpose.

:::

When they reached the other side of the village, Neji opened his byakugan again and sure enough, he saw the speck out in the forest. 'How the hell was Hinata able to see it from the other side of the village!' he thought in amazement. Many believed him to have the most precise byakugan in the clan. Well, he needed to tell the elders to shove that up theirs when he got back. Hinata deserved recognition; he had had enough of it to last a life time, even if he was still a Branch Member.

Hinata reactivated her byakugan as they drew closer to the position she had seen him and followed Neji's train of sight to where the now much larger signature was. She eyed the sleeping teen as they approached. The two Hyuuga slowed the group when they were within a hundred meters, and crept into the clearing.

The boy looked to be the same age as them, a Stone village hitae-ate clenched in his fist, though still fast asleep. He had short black hair shaved in a crew cut, and tear marks drew their way down his face. His chunin vest adorned over a simple black t-shirt proved he was a capable ninja, and the brown jean-like pants showed; in Ino's eyes, that he had some fashion sense, unlike so many ninja. She looked pointedly at Hinata. She was still devising how to get that girl out of her shell. She _knew_ she was hiding something under that jacket.

The group slowly approached, Naruto stalking up to the boy, gently shaking his shoulder. He woke up with a shout, and Naruto suddenly found a kunai to his throat. "Get away from me you murderers!" the boy shouted, a crazed look in his eye.

Naruto jumped back away from the kunai, waving his hands out in front of him in defense. The boy tried to push himself further back into the tree he was leaning on, his eyes darting around wildly to all the shinobi suddenly around him.

"We,we're not here to hurt you" Hinata said gently, taking a hesitant step forward, finger to lip in nervousness. '_This poor soul, he must be shattered if he knew the demise of his village'_ she thought in concern. And by the tear stains on his face, that was obvious.

Her voice however was drowned out by Naruto's slightly angered one. "Hey, we're from Konoha, we're not murderers! We came to help, to get the swords so we can kill that thing!" he shouted angrily.

"You!" the boy's unstrung voice sounded. He cackled maniacally. "A bunch of chunin kill the beast! My father was an elite jonin, and he couldn't even touch it! Even though he wielded the Machete, I found his body torn in three just like the rest of them!"

Hinata shivered. What had this boy seen? She couldn't imagine seeing all that she had just seen fresh, the blood covering everything in sight, hanging in a mist in the air.

"Whatever, where are the swords anyway?" Naruto said obnoxiously, but was interrupted by a punch to the head.

"Idiot! Can't you see he's terrified?" Sakura shouted.

Hinata's small gasp at seeing Naruto fly headfirst through a tree was drowned out by Sakura's tirade. Then her voice turned sickly sweet and she plastered a closed eyed smile over her unnaturally pink framed face.

"Now then, what are you doing here?" she asked sweetly.

The boy glared at her, standing up. "I'm the sole survivor of this village" he said. "My name is Mamoru, I only escaped because I wasn't here in the first place. I was out on a mission, in fact the only person out of my village on a mission. That day was a holiday for our entire village, I was the only one sent away to retrieve some scrolls for the festival that night. When I got here, there were some deformed looking men leaving the massacre, and I begged them to kill me, but they just smirked and ignored me. I was too shocked to fight them" he sighed and turned away. "If you're looking for the swords, ANBU from the Leaf picked them up a week ago. You're too late, your Hokage probably just sent you here to see this."

With that he turned his back on them and walked off into the forest. "Whaaat!" Naruto shouted. "We came all this way for nothing!" Growling to himself, he stalked around the clearing. "That damned Tsunade, playing us like fools. Grr, if she thinks she can get away with this…"

Hinata's weak voice interrupted his muttering as some of the others chased after the boy, intent on getting more answers. "Umm, Naruto-kun, I think he's right, Tsunade-sama would have a reason for sending us all this way."

Naruto couldn't argue with that face. It was just too innocent, too vulnerable. "Yea, you're probably right Hinata" he said, then fell into an awkward silence with the girl that loved him. He knew she hadn't heard what he had said the other night, and it frustrated him to no end. He couldn't say that again! Truth be told, he felt so privileged to have a royal Hyuuga, but not only that, a girl that was so strong and kind and awesome like Hinata, love him. He wanted to hang on to that, but he knew he was being selfish.

He wasn't worth it. That was why he had always gone after Sakura, because he knew she was maybe in his league. Hinata, well, she was completely and utterly out of it. And he wouldn't bring her down to his level just to go out with her. He wasn't sure about his feelings for the shy heiress, but he knew he wouldn't bring her down. Not ever. Not after all she had done for him.

"You're right Hinata" Shikamaru saved him and broke up the awkward silence as he casually walked over to them. "The Hokage must have wanted us to see the devastation of the beast firsthand so that we will work even harder for our village, and I think I speak for everyone here that it has worked. We could never have imagined the scale of this."

The others came back with Mamoru in tow, him looking particularly sheepish. He glared at the rest of them though. "I'm coming to Konoha" he said, then brushed past them in the direction of their village, though obviously on a path that would by far skirt the worn remains of his home.

"Ok, let's move out" their un-proclaimed leader Shikamaru agreed, and the group followed the wayward boy, back to their village, back to their mission that they now were all fully aware of the gravity of. With a new fire set in their hearts, coldly burning and growing with their determination to stop this monstrosity repeating.

:::

Wow, I just finished watching School Days halfway through editing this, that is the most screwed up show I have ever seen. Haha though, Makoto got what was coming to him in the end. Poor Kotonoha though, got messed around by so many people . If you haven't seen it you'll have no idea what I'm talking about, but I actually don't recommend that series, it is honestly the most messed up, pervy, non-realistic bullcrap I've ever seen (sorry if you like it). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that, it was another intro chapter so I found it kind of boring, the next chapter will probably take a while, because I'm realistic and I know I'm hopeless at getting this stuff at, plus I've got plenty school work to do. Plus skateboarding and snowboarding cause its snow season. And work… But I promise it will get into it a little more, then the chapter after that will be great! Anyway, looking forward to the reviews, I love them. Constructive criticism welcomed, I'm not afraid of what you have to say, so let me hear it, I want to become a better writer


	3. Chapter 3: The Will of Fire

Eden

A NaruHina Fanfic

Chapter 3: The Will of Fire

:::

Haha I know, pretty generic chapter name. Some pointless fluff at the start of the chapter, then a hearty Hinata moment. Yay! It's pretty short but if I put the next bit of the story in it would be ridiculously long and it suited cutting this chapter where I did. Ok I'm trying to cut down on my authors notes so I'll stop here.

:::

When they got back to the gates of Konoha, it seemed the entire village was there to cheer in their new protectors. The thirteen nin quickly discovered the Hokage had prepared a feast for them to welcome them into their new appointment to go on top of the standing ovation.

Poor Mamuro was whisked away the instant someone of authority caught sight of him. He didn't put up any resistance, he had drawn more and more into himself the further they went from his village. Hinata could only pray for his mental wellbeing as she watched him trod away behind several ANBU.

When the feast came around, Hinata felt like someone surely had to be watching out for her. After months of not seeing him after her confession, to her blushing gratitude she was seated right beside the loud blonde. Their respective teams lounged on either side of them so it wasn't too suspicious, but Hinata heard many rumors that night that Lady Tsunade had organized the seating plan. She wasn't a girl to go on rumors, but even if they were true she would give nothing but thanks to her Hokage.

As the fest got underway, Hinata found herself mesmerized by watching Naruto gobble down bowl after bowl of ramen, while she absently mindedly blew on her own to cool it before she attacked it at her own 'normal-person' pace.

When the desert came around, and Hinata hesitantly asked for her favorite dish, cinnamon rolls, she was once again surprised by her favorite orange-clad ninja when he just asked for more ramen. Finding some rare courage, the first words passed between them during the feast.

"N-Naruto-kun" Hinata stammered as he looked up from his bowl. "W-would you like to, umm, maybe try a c-cinnamon roll? Th-they're my favorite, they're really nice so I was, well, um, maybe wondering if you would like them?"

Hinata's stammering sentence that seemed like a whole speech was immediately shot down by Naruto's thoughtless comment of "Nah I only like ramen!"

Sakura saw the shy girl wilt and begin to draw into herself, sinking into her seat after her heartfelt comment was so brutally dismissed. "Narutoooo" she growled, punching him in the head. "At least try it!" Hinata brightened up a bit; she knew Naruto would do anything for Sakura. She put the reason for that in the back of her mind for the moment. "H-here, I have some if you want it Naruto-kun" she said, passing him a roll.

Grumbling, Naruto took it, biting down immediately to get it over with. Hinata watched in glee as his expression changed to one of adoration. "Wow, these are really good Hinata!" he exclaimed. "Hey waiter, if I'm not allowed any more ramen, get me twenty of these things!" he called, waving about the roll.

Hinata's small voice correcting him with a "Cinnamon Roll" was lost in the mull of the room and her blushing beaming. She quickly found herself again staring in awe as he now gobbled down pastry after pastry, coating his jacket in the flakes. She somehow felt a little closer to him, that he liked her favorite food. She knew it was childish, but it was something.

:::

As the last course of the feast came to a close, Naruto was shocked to see Hinata's empty bowls and plates rivaled his own. "That was a nice meal" was all she said to his hanging jaw.

Sakura looked over to see what the fuss was, and narrowed her eyes. '_All that food must go straight to her breasts_' she huffed in jealousy.

Tsunade stood at the front of the table. "Now, you twelve will begin training immediately, your specialist trainer has arrived from the capital this morning, who will be assigned to you right now. He has been living in the capital of the Land of Fire especially for this year, when it is our turn for the beast to attack."

She opened an arm in invitation to someone standing in the background, and an elderly man stepped forward. Scars riddled his face and neck, which were the only parts of his skin showing, but when he turned side on to take to the podium as Tsunade stepped down, the gathering ninjas' keen eyes spied flawless; if wrinkled, skin towards the back of his neck. It showed them he was not a man to turn away from a fight. That instantly gained him respect in Naruto's eyes.

His rough veteran appearance matched his speech. "I am Hajime, and I will be your instructor. We start tomorrow." Then he was stepping down and walking back to the shadows from whence he came. '_That_…' Naruto thought. '_Was worse than Shino_.'

Tsunade's fallen, twitching figure gave it away to all, he had been supposed to make a bigger speech. To save her the work of course. '_Well I'll show him!_' she thought, an invisible eyebrow scrunched violently. She retook center stage, and quoted the legends of the Leaf. "The Will of Fire burns strongly in each and every one of you, let it lead you to victory and the protection and peace of this village!" she roared.

"Yea!" several overenthusiastic ninja shouted, namely Lee and Naruto, before the gathered shinobi piled out of the feast hall.

:::

They all chattered constantly about the adventure they were about to undertake within their own village, until the crowd whittled down to just Naruto, Neji, and Hinata. It turned out that since Naruto's apartment block was on the outskirts of town, it was the nearest to the Hyuuga compound of the Konoha 12. As they were approaching Naruto's building Hinata tried to stammer out something, anything coherent.

"H-have a good rest N-Naruto-kun" she managed. As she saw him turn away without a word, her heart leapt. '_What did I do!_ _Please don't be ignoring me Naruto-kun!_' she screamed at herself internally. To determine if he was or not, she summoned up what was left of her courage levels for that day and continued. "W-we will have some hard training tomorrow…" she trailed off in a whisper, but he surprised her by looking over his shoulder as he walked through the doors to the building.

She should have realized he was just delaying goodbyes, as he always did. "Thanks Hinata, and yea! I can't wait for tomorrow, maybe I'll even get to face you, I've been dying for a spar with you ever since Pain!"

If he felt awkward about bringing that up again, he didn't express it. Neji narrowed his eyes. "While I think Hinata is more than capable of beating you up Naruto, I'll be there to, and I'm still keen for a rematch, so before you can get at Hinata, you're going to have to beat me!"

Naruto laughed. "Haha! I'll look forward to smashing that soft chin of yours again Neji!" he shouted cheekily and ran through the door.

"Hey, I've conditioned my chin a lot since then!" Neji shouted out in his defense, but the cheeky blonde was already gone. Grumbling to himself about how his chin was now as solid as the rock of the Hokage monument, he turned and headed back to the Hyuuga state. Suddenly, he heard a soft peal behind him. He turned at the sound of Hinata's giggle, seeing her eyes squeezed shut in mirth as she tried to hold it in, but a few small sounds still bubbled out of her. He couldn't help but grin, it wasn't often he saw his cousin like this. Naruto really did have an amazing effect on her. He just couldn't hold a grudge against that boy, no-one could.

The two Hyuuga's turned and headed back to their own home, now both with smiles on their faces. Hinata looked over her shoulder once more before they rounded the bend in the road to see the lights on in Naruto's apartment. "Good night, Naruto-kun" she whispered to herself.

:::

When Hinata arrived home to see her father again, his mood had definitely changed since their departure. Since then, he had heard of the exact mission details, and the significance of it. Neji was no-where to be seen when she was summoned to his office, and she couldn't help but feel nervous when he put a sound barrier on the door after she was through. "F-father?" she stuttered out under his intense gaze. He came closer to her. When she smelled the reek of alcohol on his breath, she quailed in fear. He had been thinking about her mother again, which always inadvertently led to him taking out his grief and anger on her.

"This mission is too important for you to screw up Hinata Hyuuga" he hissed. "And you will not shame the Hyuuga anymore, so I will say this only once. The next mission you screw up, if it has anything to do with this one, you will be branded."

Hinata choked on her gasp, ending up in a coughing fit as her own saliva caught in her throat. "Are you listening!" he yelled all too loudly in the confines of the room. Hinata now knew what that sound barrier had been for, she was just lucky it wasn't for the reason it was used with branch members.

"If you fail, I will officially disown you as my daughter and the heir to the clan; you will be banished from the main house and be branded with the caged bird seal, and will serve your sister until you die!"

Hinata was so horrified she couldn't even speak. She backed up helplessly, her shaking hand struggling feebly to grasp the latch of the door out. Her uncontrollable shaking eventually ended up ripping the frail paper in the door, so she just tore out a big chunk, stepping through without opening the frame. She was to intent on getting out of that burning glare to worry about the cleaners new job.

Without even realizing it, she had made it to her bed, the tears pooling around her pillow. She felt like she had been cut by an extra sharp kunai, the tears just wouldn't stop coming. Except this cut hurt, hurt her to the bone. It was her second worst nightmare, having something, anything, on her forehead. As a main house member of the Hyuuga clan, covering your forehead was a terror, and the caged bird seal… was worse than hell.

That this was Hinata's second worst fear said wonders for the feeling she felt for a certain blonde. This terror scraped across Hinata's mind for hours, until her heavy sobs finally settled and she was dragged down into waking nightmares where her fear became true, and her world was known as pain.

:::

Neji walked into Hinata's room in the morning to collect her for their first training session with Hajime-sensei. Seeing her still asleep, eyes red and puffy, the all too obvious tear stains on her face, he felt sorrow for her. He didn't know exactly what had gone on in that room with her father, but it wasn't hard to guess. It would have been something to do with her disputed heiress role. Though he used to despise his cousin for being born into the main house even though she was so weak, herself and Naruto had helped him see how wrong he was. He intimately knew the pain of wearing the caged bird seal and what it could do; he definitely didn't want his sister figure to go through that ordeal on top of all the hurt and degradation she had already suffered in her life.

Out of respect he left the room and knocked louder this time. He smiled to himself when he heard Hinata's muffled gasp when she opened her eyes to see the sun streaming through the slats in her blinds. He knew she was usually the first up; she would always help the servants with breakfast even when they tried to refuse her. He enjoyed when she did argue herself into service of them though as Hinata was an excellent cook, unlike some of his other friends. He shuddered involuntarily at the thought of Sakura's cooking and the assorted un-pleasantries she came up with that she also labeled 'food'.

Hinata would then usually get an early start on training for the day, he knew she worked a lot harder than he did, which was saying something. On top of this, he was also aware of her frequent nighttime activities where she would leave the estate for the majority of the darkest hours to improve on what she had already learned that day. He had discovered all this because every time he attempted extra training on top of his, on the occasional infrequent visit to a ground at night time or early morning, Hinata would be there.

He came out of his reverie when a blurry eyed Hinata burst through the door, stopping short when she realized her collision course. Lucky she was a ninja. She was even still zipping up her lavender jacket, blushing profusely in embarrassment. "S-sorry for keeping you waiting Neji-sama" she said.

He deflated. Despair was still laced through her voice and she hadn't used that formal term for months with him. Her father had really got her down. Again. He just wished he could do something about it.

:::

To Hinata's bright red embarrassment, because of her 'sleep in' the Hyuugas were the last to arrive for training. Everyone had been waiting, and Hinata, not too comfortable with a lot of attention, was now immensely embarrassed to feel everybody's eyes on her, the source of the hold up. Hajime-sensei said nothing about it, which made her feel about an inch better.

"Well then, we'll begin" he said after everyone had gathered.

Suddenly, Hajime performed a rapid few hand seals and twelve house sized boulder poofed into existence in a line along one side of the field. "This is a preliminary test for you so I can see your individual strengths and weaknesses" he explained. "You are each to move the boulder across the clearing. Begin!"

"Easy!" Naruto shouted, creating an over the top amount of shadow clones who piled around the boulder, lifted it up, and proceeded on crossing the clearing. While Naruto used a lot of chakra replacing exhausted clones along the way, he wasn't even sweating when the boulder was on the other side.

"Fang over Fang!" Kiba shouted. He and his huge dog ripped into their boulder, sending it rolling across the clearing with each attack. Hajime watched the Inuzuka successfully move the boulder. In fact most of the guys got the boulder over with little effort, Lee simply punching it and watching it fly, Neji 128 palming it, Choji throwing it, using their varying over the top combos to send the boulders flying. Only Shikamaru had some trouble. He connected his shadow to the giant boulders and attempted to step forward to force the boulder follow. Unfortunately, it was almost like pushing the weight himself, so he ended up leaning against it lazily and watching the others.

Meanwhile, it seemed the girls has slightly more trouble. Tenten and Ino sat stumped by their respective boulders. Hajime's attention was drawn to the other two girls, who were only now winding up. Even as he watched, Sakura punched her boulder and grinned in smug satisfaction as it rained over the boys on the other side of the clearing in fragments. He nodded his head approvingly to himself, that kind of strength was certainly admirable. His attention was drawn to the last girl in the line when he saw her begin to move.

"Eight trigrams, 64 palms!" Hinata's shrill voice shouted out. With each strike and weight of chakra, the boulder moved a meter or so, but even after the full repertoire, it was only at halfway. Hinata puffed. She had not trained day and night constantly for the last few months to fail her first task! And on top of that, a helpless fear propelled her. "Protective eight trigrams, 64 palms!" she shouted, this time using the blunted version of her chakra threads to hit the boulder further. It was like swinging a rope at a house, it had little effect.

Hinata despaired. Her chakra reserves had never been huge, and she had only grown them a small amount, having concentrated more on her technique; the art of taijutsu and Hyuuga jutsus.

However, she did have one more ace up her sleeve. "Twin Lion Head Fist!" she whispered after a minute's concentration, thrusting both hands into the rock even as the chakra formations took shape. It exploded outward, the solid stone disintegrating in a wave before her. But to her further hopelessness, unlike Sakura's none of it landed near the boys.

She looked uncertainly to her new sensei. His face was unreadable, but he came forward to where the closest piece to the start had landed. "You start again from here" he said, not unkindly, and suddenly another huge boulder had popped into existence.

She was out of chakra, everyone was watching her, and she had no aces left. All she had was her own body. Her shoulder sagged in despair. She couldn't do this. She should just give up like it looked Shikamaru, Ino, and Tenten had. She slumped to the ground, her back against the rock, her shoulders heaving as she fought back tears.

But if anyone knew Hinata, they would know that she never gave up. If she did that now it would be like spitting on her nindo, spitting on Naruto! She was not going to give up! Hinata was punching and kicking the rock before she even knew she had moved, grinding the huge weight forward inch by inch. She would do this! Even if it broke every bone in her body, she would get that dam rock over the line!

When she heard Naruto's encouraging shout, quickly picked up by the others, she only tore into the rock harder. She didn't care that her knuckles began to split and bloody. She wore a ferocious grin on her face; which was thankfully hidden beneath her bangs, as she struck over and over. When she felt her knuckle bones grinding on the rock with each hit, she changed to palm hits, the agony lacing through her body only pushing her on harder.

The gathered shinobi stood in silent testament to her strength as her repeated shouts of "Ha!" melodized the dull strikes of flesh on rock. She alternated between punches, slaps and kicks until the afternoon wore into night.

Despite what they had promised themselves, with many a sympathetic parting glance, teammates drifted off with varying excuses. When Ino tried to make her give up out of concern for the girl's health, the reply scared her away. "No! I never give up, that is my nindo, and if I go back on that I don't deserve to be in this team and I don't deserve to be a ninja of Konoha!" Hinata had shouted back viciously. While Ino slunk away, Naruto's face split into a full blown grin. "Even if it takes all night!" Hinata shouted as much to herself as those remaining, which was actually just Naruto and Hajime-sensei.

Naruto had been about to say something before Ino had to put the poor girl out of her misery, but as soon as she mentioned that all important word, he knew why she was doing this to herself, and would not stand in the way. "Yea, that's right Hinata, you show em!" he shouted encouragement instead, and Hinata's pace immediately picked up.

When she noticed it was all but Naruto remaining, she hardened herself against the sense of desertion. '_That's alright; this is my challenge, not there's. They have nothing to do with it'_ she told herself. '_And, this challenge is for Naruto._'

This thought, along with seeing him remain throughout the night with her, spurned her on to new extremes. Why was she doing this? To prove herself to herself, to Naruto, to her family, to the ninja world. This was to earn the respect of her father, so he wouldn't put the cursed seal on her forehead. This was to earn the respect of Konoha, so they wouldn't look down on her as weak. And most importantly, this was to earn the respect of Naruto, the one and only man she would ever love in the entire world. '_He is still here, finally watching me'_ she thought. '_And I won't let him down!_'

:::

Hajime took it all in, the girl's severe determination, her constant near breakdowns, her constant revivals. He could see every time she doubted herself she would look at the blonde and gain resolve.

Then, he took in her agonizing victory late in the night, when the rock reached him at the line. He also took in the boy next to him, how he had stood there and supported his comrade with his words of encouragement and just his presence, watching her all night long ,and how he caught her when she dropped unconscious at the end and carried her to the hospital.

He took all this in as he walked past the blood splattered rock, a testament to the day's battle. He had never expected such a degree of commitment from today's training session. One thought formed in his mind then as he watched the silhouette of the boy with the girl in his arms disappear through the trees.

'_The Will of Fire burns strong in these two.'_

:::

Yay for NaruHina moments. Sorry I guess I kind of rushed this one even though it took me ages, so let me know if you spot any flaws or mistakes. Next time they go on their first mission and we get a nice big rumble! Thanks for reading


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